#diysos

Rayner Davies have been asked by the BBC’s DIYSOS to help them with their next Big Build for Children in Need project in Nottingham.  On 1st September, Nick Knowles and his team of Billy, Chris, Jules and designer Gabrielle will be assisting the youth of St Anne’s in an ambitious two-week build.  Rayner Davies and the show’s resident designer Gabrielle Blackman will be busy designing the project ready for Nick and the team to make a start in September.

In 1991, the Community Recording Studio (CRS) in St Ann’s, Nottingham was founded by local people to teach film, video and music skills to children and young people from across the city who are facing various challenges in their lives. The CEO and founder of the CRS, Trevor Rose is highly respected and the studio acts as a safe haven for many young people in the area. Through their outreach the local young people are changing their behaviour and outlook for the future, and the impact that the CRS has is genuinely inspiring.

The charity receives a small grant from BBC Children in Need to deliver a programme of creative workshops that develop skills in music and video creation, promote positive behaviour, and increase confidence and self-esteem.

The CRS has occupied a few rooms in the existing Russell Youth Centre for the last 28 years, but the increased demand for their outreach means that they need more space and the centre is in need of a major renovation. The problem is that the CRS doesn’t have the money to do this, so that’s where DIY SOS comes in!

The DIY SOS team with the help of kind trade volunteers have big plans to renovate the centre and turn it into a space that will provide much needed outreach and support for some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in Nottingham, whilst also providing a space where they can develop skills in music, video, photography, cooking and exercise in a professional environment and give them the opportunity to reach their potential.

DIY SOS charitable builds are hugely ambitious and they rely on the generosity of trade volunteers and company donations. The DIY SOS team are appealing for tradespeople and volunteers to help on this build and make a real difference to the lives of many more young people in Nottingham and the East Midlands.

Just been up to number 13 to check progress and go through snagging list with Deputy Head Honcho of Builders C. All is looking pretty good until DHH tells me that the plumber is ‘caught up on another job’ and won’t be here till tomorrow morning. We’re meant to be having a sign off meeting at 8am. The plumbing work that is still outstanding is the fitting of the utility sink, kitchen sink, dishwasher and washing machine – bearing in mind that all of the problems that we’ve had in this house have been due to plumbers fitting things last minute I’m not very happy about this. There’s also a slight smell of gas in the understairs cupboard which my husband had reported to them yesterday. So apart from the fitting of the dreaded boiler then they’ve just left ALL of the plumbing until after the sign off meeting….

I ring Head Honcho and express my displeasure – he tells me that he should’ve had til the end of the day tomorrow and so therefore this is fine… Despite telling me on Monday that they’d be fine to handover at 8am on Friday…

Although he did tell me in his special I’m talking to a woman and I want her to get off the phone voice that he would try and get the plumber to come over this afternoon. So I expect he’s definitely making that call now…

They’re all the same – why should I have expected any different.

House will not be signed off tomorrow.

My optimistic ‘Whoop Whoop it’s February’ moment lasted about 2 hours.